The three gites in the old barn wing of the house have a kitchenette, living/dining room and a double bedroom and bathroom on the ground floor; on the first floor are two twin bedrooms and a bathroom. The pigeon tower gîte has a double bedroom upstairs and a twin mezzanine bedroom; it has a kitchenette, living/dining room, a twin bedroom and two bathrooms downstairs. In each gîte, there is a bathroom with a bath and shower and a shower room. The equipment in each gîte includes: electric cooker, refrigerator, washing machine, tv/radio/video. Household linen and towels are provided. Electricity and water are included in the rental. We prepare the gites for arrival - beds made, fridge and hot water on and check that the previous gîters have left the gîte nicely for you. An extra child bed and a cot can be provided. The gites can be interconnecting for group bookings.

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Garrigue is an ancient stone farmhouse in peaceful and private 3 hectare (7 acre) grounds bordered by a stream and a woodland walk and is surrounded by varied working farms - cattle, poplars, sunflowers, maize, vines, etc. It is in SOUTH-WEST DORDOGNE, 20 kilometres south of the ancient town of BERGERAC on the Dordogne river; 6 kms north of the medieval bastide town of EYMET which boasts that it has held a market every Thursday morning since June 1270, and 4 kms west of the tiny village of FONROQUE, an English bastide village during the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine and the 100 Years War, and on one of the pilgrim routes to Santiago de Compostela.

LOCAL AMENITIES : Sports include canoeing, fishing, golf, tennis, biking, hiking, riding, hot-air ballooning, flying club, karting, quad-biking. There are countless châteaux, abbeys, medieval towns and villages, prehistoric caves and dwellings to visit, and many inviting local vineyards offering tastings...or maybe you would prefer to just bring your soothing bottle of the local Bergerac AOC wine back to our peaceful surroundings and enjoy the birdsong.

A word about the GOLF - Sadly for us our golf clubs just gather dust but our gîters report enjoyable rounds 20 minutes away at Le Château des Vigiers Golf Course, Spa & Country Club. The Country Club has two restaurants: "Les Fresques" which is situated in the 16th century château and offers a sophisticated dining experience and has an extensive wine-list. The brasserie "Le Chai", open for lunch and dinner, is more informal where you can try local dishes as well as lighter snacks and meals. This famous Golf and Country Club also offers a complete range of professional health and beauty treatments in association with Maria Galland™ of Paris. Other health facilities include: 3 treatment rooms, relaxing massages, sauna, jacuzzi, steam room (Hammam), a fitness centre and an outdoor heated swimming pool (open May to September). http://www.vigiers.com/. There are other golf courses of varying price and length such as the 9-holer at Tombeboeuf just south of us, Villeneuve where you can play 9 or 18, and Périgueux - 18 holes par 72 and over 6,000 metres.

In addition to our Games Barn with ping-pong and billiard tables, we also have a 9-hole Pitch and Putt Golf course. We provide a badminton kit, a small croquet set, and various balls and boules. In the Games Barn there is an old music machine and some coloured lights, making a pleasant place for getting together with the other gîters after a day out exploring the region and a good alternative to the swimming pool. We have 6 bicycles for our gîters to borrow - please bring your own helmet if you wish to wear one.

Apart from the weekly markets, which are always a joy to hunters of under-packaged smelly cheeses and non-standardised stinky saucissons, oh and mouth-watering peachy-coloured canteloupe melons and big plump artichokes and ... and ..., there are some really excellent supermarkets and hypermarkets in the region. Also, within only a very few kilometres, we have some good family-friendly restaurants and some rather excellent piggy-wiggy restaurants for gourmets and gourmands alike !

THE POOL : The swimming-pool is 10 metres by 5 metres and has roman steps for easy access; it has a natural saline system and is cleaned regularly. The pool has a nice big surround paved with heat-control tiles so that feet, whether little or large, don't get burned. It is set in a grass area with a wooden fence and gates. There is a small paddling pool for babies and toddlers and the green loungers and parasols are easy on the eyes in bright sunlight.

We live here (lucky us!) in the other part of the house with our cats Cat Friday and Ziggy and our dogs Pickles and Pepper - our cats are normally pretty amiable and the dogs are always sociable and ready to walk round the grounds with you. We also have 3 dwarf goats & 4 chatty chickens. You are welcome to bring your own pets. We have a video library for weather-not-up-to-it days, had-too-much-sun days, too-tired-to-go-out evenings etc! We are usually about if you need us and, usually, we can babysit. It is normally possible to get in provisions and even a meal for your arrival. If flying to Bergerac it is worth noting that there is now a new supermarket just outside the airport which stays open until 8 pm. The Fonroque baker comes by four mornings a week with fresh croissants, pains au chocolat, baguettes and brown country bread and sometimes on other days Elizabeth goes to the bakery with everyone's orders. A NOTE TO HOUSE-HUNTERS & WISHFUL THINKERS : We should be happy to be quizzed on our property purchase and renovation experience if you think this might help you.

HOW TO GET HERE :

BY AIR : We are 90 minutes from smallish BORDEAUX Airport - British Airways and Air France - and we are only 20 minutes from delightfully small BERGERAC Airport to which FLYBE fly regularly from Birmingham, Edinburgh, Exeter, Leeds, Manchester, Southampton and Gatwick and RYANAIR fly from Liverpool, Nottingham and Stansted. Flights are around an hour and a half. Bergerac now has several car hire firms on hand with their cars waiting for you in the Medium Term Vineyard! We have heard that the Bergerac-based hire firm Ucar Apolo sarl (website is www.ucar.fr ) is very helpful and also good value.

BY RAIL : We are 25 minutes from Sainte Foy la Grande railway station with connections to Libourne (preferably) or to Bordeaux and thence to the TGV speedy trains up to Paris, if you want a "free" day there or Lille if you want an easier journey, and then the Eurostar to Waterloo. It is around 8 hours from Waterloo to Ste Foy, depending on connections. Alternatively, we are 2 hours from the car train at Brive-la-Gaillarde.

BY CAR : We are about 8 hours from Roscoff and Caen, 7 hours from St Malo, maybe 10 from the Channel Tunnel - quite a long way, yes, but long enough to appreciate the driving in France when compared with the dear old M25 !

FLEXIBLE CHANGEDAYS for BETTER TRAVEL OPTIONS : In response to airline and ferry schedules and pricing, we now have a flexible approach to arrivals and departures, even during peak holiday times - try asking us ! We have done this because:
- air and ferry rates are more reasonable on week-days
- airports and airplanes should be less crowded
- ferry terminals and ferries ditto
- motorway service stations ditto
- this would avoid peak road traffic days in France and, once here:
- it should be easier to find food shops open on arrival
- restaurants should be easier to get into on arrival
EYMET
- Eymet's weekly market is on Thursday mornings
- Eymet often has "happenings" on Saturdays
- Eymet's summer evening market is on Tuesdays.